Mind you, had they failed to dispose of Sunderland, they would indeed have been in peril, remarked Brian Glanville in The Sunday Times.
Alan Curbishley described it as "a vitally important game for us and also for Sunderland. They played their part in it, they may have got on top in the last 20 minutes but we held out - It’s about players being confident. Our problem lately has been defending. I’d like to have gone 2-0 with 10 minutes to go, not 40 minutes to go - the last half hour was not a pretty affair but I make no apologies for bringing off some of the offensive players at 2-0. It's amazing how a team can go two up and then come under pressure and look anxious against a team who are rock bottom. In the last three home games we've scored two goals in each but only got something from one of them. So it's nice that we've scored two goals at home and actually won."